DESIGNING EFFECTIVE UNDERGRADUATE GEOSCIENCE RESEARCH EXPERIENCES FOR NON-TRADITIONAL STEM STUDENTS

Attracting, retaining, and graduating undergraduates in the geosciences have been a fleeting and challenging endeavor in the United States, particularly among non-traditional STEM students. With the current geoscience workforce nearing retirement age, grave concerns have been raised about the future of the geosciences in this country and the connected threat it poses to the country’s global competitiveness. With the geosciences intricately linked to so many natural resources (e.g., energy, water, soil, and ecology), its lack of prominence among the STEM disciplines has made educators and employers alike very apprehensive and tense. Since geoscience research experiences and internships have proven to be effective strategies to recruit and retain undergraduates (particularly those students who are underrepresented in STEM) in the geosciences, a three-pronged approach of a) infusing geoscience into the curriculum; b) providing a summer geoscience research internship, and c) an academic year-long geoscience research program was designed and administered at the New York City College of Technology to raise awareness and engage students in authentic geoscience research experiences. Results from this geoscience paradigm have been promising. Interest and understanding in the geosciences have increased. Retention in the STEM disciplines are phenomenally high and a surge of non-traditional students are applying and pursuing advanced degrees in the STEM fields.